Clinical severity and rotavirus vaccination among children hospitalized for ccute gastroenteritis in Belém, Northern Brazil

This work was supported by Instituto Evandro Chagas, Health Surveillance Secretariat, Brazilian Ministry of HealthMinistério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.In March 2006, Brazil introduced the monovalent rotavirus (RV) vaccine (RotarixTM) into the public sector. This study assessed the severity of rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) according to the vaccination status among hospitalized children. We identified 1023 RVGE episodes among not vaccinated (n ¼ 252), partially vaccinated (n ¼ 156) and fully vaccinated (n ¼ 615) children. Very severe gastroenteritis (scored 15) was reported in 16.7, 17.9 and 13.5% of not vaccinated, partially vaccinated and fully vaccinated children, respectively. There was a trend for a shorter duration of RV diarrhoea among vaccinated children than in not vaccinated children (p ¼ 0.07). A protective effect of vaccination was noted when mean duration of symptoms and hospital stay are analysed, comparing unvaccinated, partially vaccinated and fully vaccinated children (p < 0.05). We showed a vaccination dose effect trend, with fully vaccinated children having less-severe RVGE than not vaccinated and partially vaccinated children